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Man, first I heard about the Olsen thing. Agree we would have to have someone come in immediately, since he's our most important receiving threat, and it would be pretty risky (to say the least) to count on getting someone in the draft (unless planning to take one in R1, which doesn't make much sense, considering other needs). Like was mentioned, hopefully, he can restructure and backload the contract, if we're trying to free up $ for Hardy.

The Carolina Panthers general manager reiterated Thursday that Hardy, who tied a team record with 15 sacks last season, is part of the Panthers puzzle that includes 21 unrestricted free agents.

“Well basically right now we’re talking to agents. He’s part of the puzzle. We’re cap-challenged,” said Gettleman when asked about the defensive end. “Last year we started we were quite a bit over. We had to do some maneuvering to get under before the first day of the league year. The progress we’ve made this year is we don’t have to do any of that. But that doesn’t mean we’re sitting here with $35 million under the cap. So if you always go for the immediate instant gratification, you’re going to get burned.”

Should the salary cap go up to its reported $130 million, the Panthers would have $19.6 million in cap space. The cap was expected to be $126.3 million, but recent projections have pushed that number to $130 million.

The instant gratification Gettleman is referring to is either signing Hardy to a significant long-term deal or using the franchise tag, which would be approximately $12.5 million—nearly two-thirds of the team’s available cap space.

I saw a mock draft today that has us taking Kelvin Benjamin... would be sweet!

Wouldn't surprise me one bit. Gettleman has already said his main focus was to get Cam some weapons, but I still think we need to go OT with our first pick. WR's are deep in this year's draft, not OT's.

Wouldn't surprise me one bit. Gettleman has already said his main focus was to get Cam some weapons, but I still think we need to go OT with our first pick. WR's are deep in this year's draft, not OT's.

Gman is going to draft BPA, I don't believe he ever drafted a OL in the first round. Look for WR or CB in the first.

Wouldn't surprise me one bit. Gettleman has already said his main focus was to get Cam some weapons, but I still think we need to go OT with our first pick. WR's are deep in this year's draft, not OT's.

Yeah, but that's what makes it less likely that one of the elite OT's get to us. It'll be best BPA, most likely from OT/WR/CB, and I agree it will prob be one of the latter 2.